Sometimes all we need is someone to rely on
by judjolie
Summary: How does Eric cope with his sister's sickness. Will he finally open up to Calleigh and let her help him & How does Horatio react on Yelina's return?Possible spoilers season 4. [EricCalleighHoratioYelina]
1. Chapter 1

**Sometimes all we need is someone to rely on**

Chapter one:

Just as the days before it was a very hot day in Miami. Eric, who was working a crime scene, felt the sun burning on his back. 'I had to wear a black t-shirt' he thought to himself. Every now and then he had to wipe away his sweat from his forehead. While doing so, he spotted his favourite blonde colleague. She was wearing her hair in a ponytail just the way he liked it. When she spotted him, a big smile appeared on her face and she waved. Just as usual he came up to her and filled her in.

"Victim Kate Tyler, 23 years old. I'm still waiting on Alexx to determine the cause of death but she had a gunshot wound just above the eye." "Okay, did you find the casing yet?" Calleigh could see from the look on his face, he hadn't yet. "I'll look for it then." Eric nodded and turned to go back to work when he felt her hand on his arm. "Eric, are you okay?" His heart skipped a beat, he had to take a deep breathe and force a big smile. "I'm fine. Why" Calleigh shook her head. Well for one thing, you're distracted all the time, she thought to herself. "I don't know, you seem a bit out of it." "I'm fine, it's just hot." He responded, again with a forced smile. Calleigh nodded and went looking for the missing casing.

Eric felt something buzzing in his pants, he picked out his cell phone. "hey… what? No I can't right now… Look you'll just have to wait… Okay, I'll come as soon as I can. Bye"

Calleigh overheard the entire conversation and was even more worried now. "Everything alright?" Eric noticed the concern in her voice. "It's nothing. Uhm. I should finish this." Meaning he wanted to keep taking pictures so she would leave him alone and of course the sooner he was finished, the sooner he was able to leave.

In the mean time the just arrived Alexx was busy processing the body. "I'm not sure the gunshot wound is the cause of death. See these bruises here and here and than this flesh wound. These are post mortem, they could have killed her just as easy."

"So It's likely she was shot when she was already dead." "Yes, I'll know more after the autopsy. Poor baby, so young, such a violent death." Alexx kept talking but Calleigh wasn't listening anymore. Something else got her undivided attention. Alexx stood up & looked in the direction she was looking. She spotted a young, beautiful woman, calling for Eric. "Anyone you know?"

"I've seen her before"

"Mari what are you doing here? I told you I was coming as soon as I was finished." "I know it's just. I need something Eric, the pain. It's.." Eric nodded, grabbed her by the arm and took her to the hummer where he gave her a brown bag, something that made Calleigh, if it's possible, even more curious and worried. "Let me take you home, okay." He made a gesture towards Alexx that he was leaving and drove off.

Back the lab, Frank had been all over Horatio the entire morning regarding evidence from their last case. Horatio assured him no mistakes were made and they had a strong case. Then his eye fell on a woman's back. He recognized her immediately. "Excuse me Frank" He left while Frank was still talking. He heard Frank asking him where he was going but this woman got his undivided attention. As he walking up to her, his heartbeat went from normal to extremely high. 'Could it be' he thought to himself.

"Yelina, you're back." Horatio said. By the sound of his voice, Yelina felt the hairs in her rise. She turned around, smiling: "Horatio". She came closer and gave him a hug.

"I'm happy to see you. It's been a while hasn't it." "Yes it has, yes it has."

It was the first time since almost forever he was speechless. He didn't know what to say or what to do, he never expected her to return or at least not yet. And although he was staring at her he couldn't believe it was her. "Horatio, are you okay."

"Yes, how have you been, how's Ray and Ray jr." Horatio quickly said, after realizing he was still staring at her."

"They're fine…still in Brazil. Well Ray jr, is coming over in two days. He wanted to come now but uhm some quality time with his dad alone, would do him good."

"Yelina, why are you here." Horatio had that determined to find the truth look in his eyes combined with a worried look. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine, Horatio. The reason why I'm here is actually you. I, we heard they were conducting an investigation regarding your past , so I came to see if I could help or give my support." She smiled. "You know, since Ray couldn't come."

"That's real nice of you" But Horatio couldn't help but to think that wasn't the only reason. "Yelina, is that the only reason."

"The one and only" She lied. She wanted to tell him the truth but she knew he wasn't up for it yet. Regarding their relationship he had always held back not matter what. Even when Ray supposingly died. Her lie made it rather weird between them because she knew, he knew she was lying and he knew, she knew that he knew she was lying. So she was more than happy when her former boss called her into his office. "How about dinner tonight?" She quickly asked to try and made the weird tension go away. "I'll call." She said smiling and walking towards the office and just as she wanted to enter she heard Horatio saying "It's good to see you." She turned and responded by "You to. I'll call."

Horatio waited until Yelina entered before he went back to work with his heart still beating out of control.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Back at the station Eric entered the lab where Calleigh was busy processing the evidence with Ryan. Neither one of them looked up or responded to Eric's question whether they had come across something significant. Eric knew Calleigh would be angry for leaving her, definitely since he was gone a lot longer than he said he would be, but Ryan. He didn't have any reason to treat him like he did. Eric was getting more and more tired of his behaviour. "You know what Ryan, I got this." "I'm sure you do" Ryan shot back in a sarcastic way. "What's that suppose to mean. Huh" Eric now stood right in front of Ryan so he was forced to answer instead of working further. Ryan wasn't the only one who now felt the tension, Calleigh quickly tried to intervene but not before Eric pushed Ryan.

"Eric" "It's okay Calleigh, I just want to know what Ryan meant by his comment." Both men were staring real intense at each other. There had been a kind of competition between them right from the start, well not really a competition but something close to that. Eric could just never get over the fact that Speed, his best friend, was replaced by some young rookie, who even worse, got closer and closer to his other best friend.

"I'm just saying, that maybe I need to help Calleigh, you know, since you're never here anymore." "Guys" Calleigh still trying to calm her men down. "Let's not do this." She placed her hand on Eric's chest, hoping to push him back but Eric wouldn't back down.

"I have my reasons."

"I'm sure you do" Again that rotten comment.

"You know, I don't need to explain myself to you." Eric was about to walk away but then Ryan made another comment about him and Marisol, still thinking Marisol was some chick Eric neglected his work for. Eric snapped, he rushed back in, pushing Calleigh aside and grabbing Ryan by his shirt. "You need to back off man." Eric yelled at Ryan, "You don't know what you're talking about." Still grabbing him by his shirt.

"I'm not afraid of you" Ryan yelled back.

"Guys, knock it off." This time Calleigh succeeded to calm Eric down and made him let Ryan go. She shook her head, Eric could see the disappointment, the sorrow in her eyes. He stared at the ground for a minute then looked up to see Ryan, still shaking. "I…I'm" that was all he could him bring himself to say. He felt his eyes tearing up and left for the door & just as he was to leave he stopped, turned around and said "just so you know that chick you're referring to… She's my sister and she's dying." … Both Ryan and Calleigh suddenly felt even worse, Ryan for being such a jerk and Calleigh for letting them get so estrange, he even couldn't confide in her.

"This is a nice place. It's new right." Yelina tried to break the uncomfortable silence between them. "Yes, it opened two months after you left." Yelina nodded and smiled.

She looked so beautiful, a long white dress, her hair down. Horatio needed to snap out of it, in the beginning he wouldn't admit it but now he couldn't deny it anymore, her return had made his life more difficult again. He finally managed to move on and now she's back. Every time she smiled he realized his feelings for her hadn't faded at all.

Horatio cleared his throat and said she looked beautiful. "Thank you, you don't bad yourself." They both laughed. The tension seemed to be fading…until Horatio asked the following question: "Yelina, why are you really here?"

"I already told you." Yelina sounded nervous. She knew she couldn't keep the truth, at least not for long. Horatio kept staring at her while looking down once in a while.

"I left Ray."

A silence fell. Horatio couldn't believe what he heard although it wasn't such a big surprise. He had faked his own death, hurting his loved ones. Then there was the matter of Susie… he cheated on her, something some women would never forgive. "What happened?" He asked concerned. But Yelina didn't want to talk about it. "Let's just enjoy dinner."

In the mean time Ryan found a lead on the murder of Kate Tyler. He ran into Eric in the hallway. "Eric, look I'm sorry." Eric nodded, accepted Ryan's apology and they shook hands. Together they left to arrest the prime suspect.


End file.
